MYTH TOOLS

MODERN MYTHS ( T — t — f )

• Betsy Ross and the First American Flag
(the demands of real estate and patriotism) [There was no USA until the Constitution in 1787]

• George Washington and the Cherry Tree (a morality tale) ( f, T )
Mason Weems, The Life of George Washington for Young People 6th edition (1800)

• Nathan Hale (Yale, Class of 1773): America's First Spy [right]
"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." ( f )
(recruiting patriots for the next conflict)
( T )

• George Washington throwing the Silver Dollar across the Potomac
(Image building: superhero)

HISTORICAL CRITICS

-Hecataeus of Miletus: "Many are the tales (mythoi) told by the Greeks, and in
my view they are laughable."
• The incompatibility of history and myth ( T versus t )

ETYMOLOGY

The name is the game: the name of a thing contains the essence of the thing. Knowing the name gives power over the thing.
Nominalism/Antinomialism. Magical words (abracadabra, hocus pocus)
"And God said, "Let there be light".
"Homer" "the one who does not see", "the prisoner"
"Daphne" 'laurel' (photo above: Apollo and Daphne, Bernini)

ICONOGRAPHY

At left: Apollo, at Delphi, seated on the sacred stone (the omphalos), his lyre at his knees. He is holding his sacred laurel
tree in his hand (Daphne). The sacred tripod is at the left. The coin was issued by the "Amphictyones", the international Board
that ran the sanctuary.